w.atching the w.orld unw.ind

The latest videotape from Banda Aceh showed graphically the relentless speed and strength of the tsunami wave which tore through the region.

One moment, a paddling-pool ripple, next, a debris-choked liquid glacier. If you weren’t able to leg it two flights of a very sturdy building, you were unlikely to be seen alive again.

On David Frost’s Sunday programme, the president of Sri Lanka gave a very modest and understated thanks to our Queen and Government, but especially to the British public for their ‘corner shop collections and generosity'. No effusive gush of gratitude, just a moderated thankyou. Top woman. She also averred that the infrastructure would be back in place within three months, an aggressive and ambitious schedule that even Frosty thought was quick.

We'll see, because we’d already planned to visit Number One Son in Sri Lanka, when he cuts a breeze through that area on his round-the-world trip. We think we still will, because it’ll be the income from tourism which will ultimately provide the wherewithal to rebuild the survivors’ future, when the disaster donations from countries and governments have been rinsed away. That’ll be our main donation – and it’ll take an overhanging Foreign Office embargo to stop us.

Loosely related - I

I watched Channel 4’s “Seven days that shook the weathermen” last night. It’s a subject that has a bearing on my job, so there was professional as well as ‘entertainment’ interest.

They interviewed the vicar of Boscastle, the Rev Bill Ankers. Now am I the only one to marvel at parents who choose to saddle their son with the worst possible initial to precede “Ankers”? (for foreign readers, “Bill” is short for William)

Loosely related - II

Which reminds me - must organise the long weekend in Prague for Mrs. D's upcoming 50th.
C'm 'ere, lastminute.com, where are you when I need you...